Montezemolo speaks again (attacks everything & everyone)

if you go by that then Kimi and Lewis are as good as Button and JV and Vettel is three times better than them. .

How about you look at the context of my post in relation to what I was responding to.

"so if that's not grounds to be regarded as best of his generation then I'm not sure what is."

I was merely pointing out, to our friend above who seemed not to be aware of other grounds to be regarded as best of their generation, that something like number of WDCs is certainly something that is "grounds to be regarded as best of his generation".

I'm definitely not saying that number of WDCs is the ONLY thing that is a measure of a driver's worth - just look at Gilles Villeneuve. But it certainly sounds funny when someone says "If being rated by fans is not grounds to be regarded as best of his generation then I'm not sure what is".

Of course it MUST be ridiculous because you disagree with it. Perhaps it's your moronic statement equating numerical championships with legendary status that takes the cake for silliness?;)

Using your logic, Michael should be, hands-down, THE BEST, with Prost right behind, but they rarely achieve that standing in any poll. Senna, Fangio, even Clark regularly beat them. Hmmmm? How many championships does Clark have again? Oh, and I believe little ole, 2-timeWDC, Alonso is also already well-within the Top 10 ALL-TIME in some surveys, even though YOU SAY [i]"Three WDCs certainly puts you in the discussion as one of the top ten of all time. Four WDCs puts you into the discussion as one of the all timers."[/i] How in the heck did he manage it? Emperor, get on some clothes...quick!

The point was just that 3 or more championships puts you in a different level. Don't stretch it to say as if everyone is ranked by number of championships. Of course, you can argue who may be better rated between a driver who has 4 championships against a driver who may have won 3 or 4. It is all comparative within a certain range. 1 and 2 are not in the range of 4 or 5. By stretching to such ridiculous level of generalization just shows the desperation and paranoia associated with the driver you may support may not be getting the rating you want by this system.

Everyone drop the derail over what if anything the number of WDCs a driver holds right now, please - it is waaaay off the topic of Luca rebuking his driver.

No getting some last words in, no little one-liners about it buried in posts that are on topic, no apologies for being off-topic and then being off-topic some more, just drop it. PM me if for any reason you want to discuss this.

Fernando forgot one thing when he came up with this (emergency) explanation in today´s press conference in Spa. What he said simply isn´t making sense. He forgot that LdiM had called to congratulate and tweak his ear before Ferrari had published the "LdiM tweaked Fernando´s ear" -article on their own website. Had there been a "misunderstanding", I am sure Alonso could have sorted it out with LdiM during their phone call before Ferrari went worldwide with the affair. However, to underline his behaviour, LdiM also chose to give an interview to Corriera della Sera newspaper a few days later. In it he returned to the subject and confirmed that he specifically wanted to say the things he said to Alonso and that he had reasons for it. The story was also published on Ferrari website. Misunderstanding? Of course not and the reason could be this:

1. Fernando has probably agreed with Ferrari that they have to inform him of who´s going to drive alongside him. A right to veto I don´t think he has. Maybe a gentlemen´s agreement.

2. Ferrari has informed Alonso (in Hungary probably) that they have made a contract with Kimi for 2014-->. The deal is done and it´s 2+1 years even though not published yet. He replaces one of the current drivers, probably Massa but should there be problems with Alonso (see paragraph 5.), they could easily replace also the other driver with Hulkenberg, Di Resta, Kovalainen etc. Lots of solid drivers ready to serve Ferrari whenever they need it...

3. My guess is that Ferrari actually has already made or are preparing a contract with Vettel for 2015-->. Their mutual interest has been widely reported and for example Peter Windsor tweeted about it this week. Same rumors can be heard from Italy´s press.

4. Ferrari´s recent lack of performance and maybe also the knowledge of Vettel tightens the nerves in Alonso´s camp. He expresses his opinion within the team, maybe even threatens to leave. As an immediate response he gets a very public rebuke a´la LdiM. The possible reason in paragraph 5. would explain why it had to be especially made public contrary to Ferrari´s every tradition to keep things private.

5. Red Bull are probably also aware of or have at least a suspicion about the development between Vettel & Ferrari. Maybe Vettel has not called his option for 2015 in time and they start to get worried. If this is the case, both Red Bull and Alonso need to react immediately. They start negotiations, maybe in Hungary with the widely reported publicity stunt to show the world that they have found each other. . This would serve both Red Bull´s and Alonso´s interests.

6. The probable outcome will be that Alonso will drive alongside Kimi in 2014 and then tries to move to Red Bull in 2015 the latest before Vettel comes to Ferrari.

7. It could also be possible that Alonso and Vettel swap places even for next season if the relationships between the teams and their drivers get worse.

Now you can start calling me crazy but please - if this scenario happens, remember this!

Fernando forgot one thing when he came up with this (emergency) explanation in today´s press conference in Spa. What he said simply isn´t making sense. He forgot that LdiM had called to congratulate and tweak his ear before Ferrari had published the "LdiM tweaked Fernando´s ear" -article on their own website. Had there been a "misunderstanding", I am sure Alonso could have sorted it out with LdiM during their phone call before Ferrari went worldwide with the affair. However, to underline his behaviour, LdiM also chose to give an interview to Corriera della Sera newspaper a few days later. In it he returned to the subject and confirmed that he specifically wanted to say the things he said to Alonso and that he had reasons for it. The story was also published on Ferrari website. Misunderstanding? Of course not and the reason could be this:

1. Fernando has probably agreed with Ferrari that they have to inform him of who´s going to drive alongside him. A right to veto I don´t think he has. Maybe a gentlemen´s agreement.

2. Ferrari has informed Alonso (in Hungary probably) that they have made a contract with Kimi for 2014-->. The deal is done and it´s 2+1 years even though not published yet. He replaces one of the current drivers, probably Massa but should there be problems with Alonso (see paragraph 5.), they could easily replace also the other driver with Hulkenberg, Di Resta, Kovalainen etc. Lots of solid drivers ready to serve Ferrari whenever they need it...

3. My guess is that Ferrari actually has already made or are preparing a contract with Vettel for 2015-->. Their mutual interest has been widely reported and for example Peter Windsor tweeted about it this week. Same rumors can be heard from Italy´s press.

4. Ferrari´s recent lack of performance and maybe also the knowledge of Vettel tightens the nerves in Alonso´s camp. He expresses his opinion within the team, maybe even threatens to leave. As an immediate response he gets a very public rebuke a´la LdiM. The possible reason in paragraph 5. would explain why it had to be especially made public contrary to Ferrari´s every tradition to keep things private.

5. Red Bull are probably also aware of or have at least a suspicion about the development between Vettel & Ferrari. Maybe Vettel has not called his option for 2015 in time and they start to get worried. If this is the case, both Red Bull and Alonso need to react immediately. They start negotiations, maybe in Hungary with the widely reported publicity stunt to show the world that they have found each other. . This would serve both Red Bull´s and Alonso´s interests.

6. The probable outcome will be that Alonso will drive alongside Kimi in 2014 and then tries to move to Red Bull in 2015 the latest before Vettel comes to Ferrari.

7. It could also be possible that Alonso and Vettel swap places even for next season if the relationships between the teams and their drivers get worse.

Now you can start calling me crazy but please - if this scenario happens, remember this!

What the hell. Raikkonen and Vettel at Ferrari 2014

Alonso, Massa and Riccardo to take over the scrap seats at Red Bull and Lotus